The Trainer's Return
by The Hooded Author
Summary: Ash Ketchum has cut himself off from his friends and family for the last ten years, but due to recent events he has decided it is finally time to return to Kanto.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

It started with a phone call. A phone call from a boy Misty had convinced herself she had stopped caring about, but the rush of feelings that washed over her when she saw his name flash on her mobile told her that she had been lying.

She could feel her heart thumping in her chest as her shaky hand picked up the phone and pressed the answer button. "Ash?" she asked as her mind struggled to process the fact that she was talking to him again after all these years.

"Misty, is that you?" His voice sounded panicked, almost fearful. Not at all like the voice she remembered from all those years ago.

"Yeah, it's me. And it's –" She paused to look at her phone. "- three AM. What do you want?" What the hell was he calling for? It had been, what, ten years now? There was no way that it was just out of courtesy. For a fleeting moment she thought that maybe it was something else, the thing she'd hoped for so desperately back when they'd first met, but she quickly pushed the thought out of her head.

"Sorry, I guess I'm still running on Kalos time. The thing is, I… I'm in a bit of trouble, and I could really use some help."

"Wait, you don't talk to me in almost ten years and the first phone call I get from you is about asking for a favour? You have some nerve." She sat up in her bed, annoyed at herself for letting her thoughts get carried away. "Honestly, did you even –"

"Misty, they took Pikachu," he said, cutting her off.

There was a stunned silence as she tried to figure out what to say next.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally managed to gather her thoughts together enough to ask, "W-who?"

"Team Rocket," he answered. "Same as always. But this time I let them get away. Argh, how could I have been so stupid?!"

"C-calm down, Ash. Talk me through exactly what happened," she said, straightening herself up. She was calmer now, and the confusion that came from a mixture of being woken up in the middle of the night and being suddenly told shocking news was finally beginning to wear off. Now, all that was left was a feeling of guilt over getting annoyed at Ash.

"Well, I was at a sort of… gathering, I guess, in Kalos for Elite Four challengers, and I guess I must have let my guard down, because one moment Pikachu was sitting right next to me and the next he was being carried away by those three.

"I chased after them, but by the time I reached the exit they had disappeared. I looked everywhere, but it was clear that they were long gone." He was talking fast and was taking very short breaths. It was clear that he was distraught over the whole thing.

"Do you know why they attacked now? I thought they'd given up," she asked him.

"I thought so too, but apparently not. I… I guess when I stopped travelling they lost track of my whereabouts. But this event was publicised well, so I suppose they saw my name on the guest list and saw it as an opportunity."

Yeah, that made sense. Misty herself vaguely remembered seeing something about the event in the paper, which meant that it must have been publicised in Kanto.

"Misty, I get the feeling that they've taken Pikachu back to Kanto," he said, getting back on topic. "Isn't that what they always talked about? Taking him to the boss?"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Misty said to him absentmindedly, struggling to find any words of comfort.

"Well, I only really called to ask if they've got a secret base or something. I know it's a long shot, but you've lived in Kanto for your entire life, so…"

"Ash, has it really been that long since you last talked to any of us?" she asked. His silence informed her that he didn't know what she was talking about. "I know where their base is. We all do." She sighed deeply.

"Team Rocket are hiding out in the Celadon City," she told him "They've got a massive, highly secured skyscraper. Everyone knows it, but they've got bribes and blackmails over everyone in the police. They pretty much control the entire region."

Again, there was a silence, but this time it was Ash's turn to be stunned.

"How long?" was all he could bring himself to say.

"How long have we been living like this?" Misty asked to clarify. "I don't know, three, maybe four years."

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice full of guilt. "I'm sorry I haven't been there to help."

More silence as Misty sorted out her thoughts. On one hand, she had every right to be angry at him. After all, he disappeared from her life without so much as a goodbye. No calls, no texts, no letters, nothing for ten long years.

But then, on the other hand, this was her friend. One she cared deeply about. Had he not earned her forgiveness?

It was Ash who broke the silence. "Misty, I'm coming to Kanto. I… I need to get Pikachu back!" His voice sounded stronger, more determined. Almost like the voice she had once known…

"Ash, I want you to promise me one thing," she said. "I want you to promise that you'll come to Cerulean first. I know you too well to think I can stop you from doing something stupid, but if you're going to do something stupid anyway I don't want you to do it alone."

"Well, I'm not sure I like the idea of putting you in danger, but I know you too well enough to think arguing with you would do any good," he said with a weak laugh. "I'll be in Kanto tomorrow. See you then?"

"Okay," Misty replied. "Bye for now." She put her phone back onto her bedside table and lied back down. As she wondered if meeting him again was really such a good idea, she drifted back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Misty woke up early the next morning, fully aware that her small house would need quite a bit of cleaning before Ash arrived. Normally she wouldn't mind too much about the mess, but today was different for two reasons:

1. It was Ash, and despite what she had told herself all through the night after his call, she had to admit that it was possible that some of the feelings she held for him ten years ago still remained to this day.  
>2. She hadn't cleaned up at all in several weeks and it was getting to the point where she could barely see the surfaces of her table or her kitchen worktop for the empty takeaway boxes, dirty dishes and month-old magazines.<p>

Once she had sent off the texts that she needed to (one to Daisy saying that she couldn't work at the gym today, and another to Ash telling him exactly how to get to her house) she decided that she should probably make a start on tidying up. She now stood in her dressing gown, looking around her house with her hands on her hips and trying to decide on where to begin.

She eventually opted for the coffee table in the living room, thinking that it would probably be the easiest job to do. She grabbed a large plastic bag from the kitchen and quickly tried to scoop all the old magazines into it. Of course, since she had not quite fully woken up, it proved much more difficult than she had first thought and most of them ended up falling into a pile on the floor.

As she bent down to pick them up, her eyes were drawn to one in particular. The magazine in question was not particularly interesting – some boring celebrity gossip magazine that one of her sisters had probably left during their last visit– but what caught her attention was the banner on the bottom of the cover that read "Win a free holiday to Kalos and a chance to meet the strongest trainers of the region".

She absentmindedly dropped the rest of the pile into the bag before flicking through the magazine to find the competition. The article looked fairly familiar – she'd probably skimmed through the magazine one day when she'd been bored. The page was decorated with a large photo of Kalos' Elite Four standing next to the champion.

The competition seemed to be giving readers the chance to win a ticket to some kind of event otherwise reserved for people who had challenged the Kalos League. It was pretty clear that it was the same gathering that Ash had been attending when he lost his pikachu.

Misty gave the article one last scan to see if his name had been mentioned anywhere, but of course there was no sign of it. After all, it wasn't like Ash had won the league or anything. There was no reason for him to get a special mention.

Slightly disappointed, she dropped the magazine into the bag with the others, carried it outside and threw it into the bin before heading back inside to make a start on the rest of the house. Before she could do so, however, the doorbell rang.

She took one last look at the kitchen, still a hopeless mess of dirty plates and old takeaway boxes, before dashing towards the door. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she yanked the door open.

"Hey! It's been a… while…" She tried to make her voice sound as enthusiastic as possible despite her fairly tired state, but she trailed off when she realised that she was currently staring into a pair of lips.

She took a step back and looked up slightly. He had grown. Of course he had grown, she hadn't seen him since he was, what, fifteen? Still, he'd clearly grown faster than she had, because she could have sworn the last time she saw him they were roughly the same height – now he was about half-a-head taller.

She examined his face, taking in every new detail that had surfaced while he'd been away. He looked so similar to the boy she'd once known, yet so different at the same time. His hair, now no longer hidden under a cap, was far shorter, more tidy and better-kept than it once had been. There was something in his eyes that wasn't quite the same either – they were lacking their usual fire, the determination that had once been there. They seemed almost… sad.

Of course, Misty probably looked just as unfamiliar to him. Her hair was far longer than it had been back then, and she usually just let it hang free now. She also guessed that she'd put on a bit of weight since they'd last met – after all, it was hard keeping a healthy diet when so much of her time was taken up by fighting challengers.

"Hey," Ash said. His voice wasn't quite the same either – it had of course gotten deeper, but it also sounded somehow weaker and less confident.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither of them sure what to say or do next. As she looked into his eyes, Misty felt a strange emotion bubble up inside her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she remembered feeling it a lot back when they had been travelling together.

Suddenly, she realised what it was she was feeling and slapped Ash across the face.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed in shock as he rubbed his cheek. "What was that for?"

"Sorry, sorry," Misty said apologetically. "I don't know what came over me, I just suddenly felt so… angry. Here, come inside, I'll get you some ice."

Ash laughed weakly as he followed her into the house. "Still the same old Misty, huh. What, did you have a sudden flashback to the whole bike thing?"

"No, that isn't it…" She disappeared into the kitchen as she tried to figure out exactly why she was mad at him.

Ash sat down on the living room's couch as he waited for her to return. After a few moments, she emerged with a large bag of ice which she promptly handed to him.

"I think it's just that… well, none of us have heard from you in so long. No visits, no phone calls, no letters, nothing."

"Yeah, sorry about that…" He lowered his head, still holding the ice bag against his face. "I guess I just… panicked."

"Panicked? Why?" She nervously sat down on the couch next to him, suddenly wishing that she had another chair.

"I don't even really know, to be honest. It's just… I'd been challenging different leagues for a good few years, and I still wasn't getting any closer to winning. And my last challenge… Well, let's just say it didn't end too well. I made some new friends, like always, but I… I guess they weren't who I thought they were."

Misty raised an eyebrow at the news.

"They all left the moment I lost. I ended up stuck in some far off region with no friends near enough to help me out and just enough money to get me to Kalos."

"Why didn't you just call one of us? We'd have done everything in our power to help you." All her anger had evaporated, with a deep concern for her friend taking its place.

"I wanted to, don't get me wrong. It's just that… well, I was ashamed."

"Ashamed? That's a surprisingly complex emotion for you, Ash," she said with a forced laugh. She regretted the pathetic attempt at humour the moment she looked at his face and saw that he didn't look any happier.

"There's a bit more to it than what I've told you, but do you mind if we don't get into all of it just now?"

"Y-yeah, sure." She remembered that he never had been too great at discussing his emotions.

"I went to Kalos in the hopes of meeting back up with some of my friends there, but I found that I was too embarrassed to approach even them. So instead, I settled down, got a job, found an affordable apartment and moved on with my life. I still talk to my mum, obviously, and she's been helping out where she can. I wanted to call you guys so badly, but… I don't know. I guess I kept making excuses, and before I knew it an entire year had passed. After that, I guess it just… felt too late." He lifted his head back up and looked at Misty, a sad smile etched on his face.

"Oh Ash…" she said, trying to think of a way to put him at ease. Making people feel better wasn't something she had ever been good at – that was usually his area. Hesitantly, she put her hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "You could've called me. You could've called any of us. That's what we're here for. We're your friends."

"Yeah, I guess… Thanks Misty." As he stood up, a smile flickered across his face and he almost looked like the Ash she knew, but it quickly vanished. "Anyway, how about we go get Pikachu back?"

"Oh, right, sorry. I guess we got a little carried away there, huh?" she said as she stood up and started to walk towards the bedroom. "Just give me a couple of minutes to get dressed and we can head off to Celadon. We'll take the car, it'll be quicker."

"Yeah, sounds good… Wait, you have a car?!" Ash asked in shock, but Misty had already shut the bedroom door.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Misty never had been the best driver. In fact, if she was being honest, she wasn't particularly skilled at anything other than battling. After all, being a gym leader meant that she was constantly facing off against challengers, which didn't give her much free time to pursue other possible talents. Sure, she got a few days off every month when one of her sisters could be bothered running the gym, but she usually spent those reading or sleeping.

In other words, she had learned to drive well enough to get her license and then barely touched her car again. She had occasionally driven down the road for groceries when it was raining or she was feeling particularly lazy, but she had certainly never driven anywhere as far as Celadon.

As her tiny car jerked and skidded down long, winding roads at a slightly-too-fast speed, she nervously took a quick glance at Ash then quickly turned her attention back to the road in front of her. He was staring out the window, apparently in deep thought and oblivious to the fact that he was bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Hey, you okay?" Misty asked with concern, now keeping her eyes glued to the road in front of her.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," he said, trying and completely failing to sound sincere. He flashed her a forced grin, but she was far too preoccupied to notice.

"Pikachu will be fine," she assured him. "Don't worry, we'll get him back. Like always."

"Hmm," he muttered doubtfully. "This isn't the same as always though, is it? They've managed to get him all the way back to their boss, and I don't have any pokémon to help us out this time."

"Oh come on, that's not the Ash I know. Where's your fighting spirt? We're going to march in there, get Pikachu back and return home by dinner time." She tried her best to sound confident, but her voice betrayed her emotions. The truth was, Team Rocket had become far more powerful over the past few years, and she really wasn't sure if they stood a chance.

Ash turned his head away and continued to look out the window, clearly not convinced.

"Besides," she added in one last desperate attempt to cheer him up, "if we need to fight them, I'm here. I've gotten a lot stronger since you've left." She turned to give him a cheeky wink and as a result nearly drove into a large field ahead of them.

They sat quietly for a while as Misty balanced concentrating on her driving with trying to think of ways to comfort her friend.

Ash just continued to stare out the window for most of the journey, struggling to take in how different the region looked since he had left. As the drove through Saffron City, he noticed just how much bigger it had gotten – most of the buildings had grown like trees into massive pillars reaching towards the sky, and it was definitely taking them longer to drive through it than it would have done ten years ago (although it was entirely possible that Misty was just lost).

Yet despite how spectacular it all looked, he noticed that there seemed to be at least one or two homeless people begging for money in every street they turned down. It seemed like an odd contrast. How could there be so many more houses yet so many more people without homes?

"So, what've you been up to?" Ash asked, tearing his eyes away from the bustling city.

"Oh, not much," Misty said, relieved that he'd finally broken the silence. "Working at the gym mostly. It's… not exactly easy, and I don't have much spare time, but it pays the bills. Ah, there we go, I knew the exit was around here somewhere." The car suddenly turned sharply up what appeared to be a one-way road.

The buildings started to become more and more spaced out until eventually they disappeared completely and the lush trees of route 8 were finally visible.

The car speeded down the route and eventually jerked to a halt just outside Celadon. Ash and Misty clambered out and stumbled about for a bit, both finding it rather difficult to stand after such a bumpy ride.

"Sorry about that," Misty said, trying her best to straighten herself up. "I, er, haven't driven in a while."

"Yeah, I can see that," Ash said, laughing.

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Celadon City had, much like Saffron City, changed a great deal since Ash had left. Unlike Saffron City, however, it had somehow grown quieter as it expanded. The few ordinary citizens outside seemed uptight and nervous. Ash watched one woman turn her head to look behind her several times as she hastily walked down the street.

The only other people in the city were men in odd, leather coats who stood rigidly at each corner. All of them wore belts with pokéballs attached.

"Hey, who are they?" Ash asked, gesturing towards one of the strange men.

"That's Team Rocket's men," Misty said grimly.

"What?!" Ash exclaimed in shock. Misty firmly pressed a finger against her lips. "Sorry, sorry," he said, trying to keep his voice down. "It's just… there are so many of them. And they're not wearing the uniform."

"Yeah, well, they had a sudden rise in numbers recently. And they try to be at least slightly discreet; it makes it easier to avoid trouble from the courts if they don't have the logo plastered to their chests. Now come on, we'd better move on if we don't want to look to suspicious."

The two of them headed further into the city as they tried their best to avoid making eye-contact with the men. Misty could feel their eyes burning onto her back as she walked past them. They most likely knew who she was, and a gym leader strolling into their city probably wasn't a normal occurrence. She was trying her best to make it look like she was walking with purpose, but she had a feeling she was swinging her arms with a tad too much force.

While she wasn't sure of the layout of the city, she knew that the Rocket's hideout was the large tower right in the centre, so by walking towards that she managed to find her way their without too much trouble.

She paused for a moment to steel herself. What they were about to do was incredibly dangerous and would most likely end with both of them being imprisoned, if not killed. Still, if she didn't do something, Ash would probably just go in himself. At least with her there, there was a _chance_ of success.

She took a deep breath and turned to her friend. He looked nervous, but he nodded silently to show he was still willing to go through with it. She nodded back before turning around and marching up to the guards in front of the building.

"Hello," she started, trying to stop her voice from trembling. "We've come to see your boss."

The guards stared at her for a moment, trying to process her request. Finally, one of them stepped forward. "Is that so?" he said in an almost patronising tone. "Do you have an appointment?"

"W-we don't need an appointment," Misty said nervously as she took a step back from the guard. She reached a hand into her coat pocket and pulled out a thin, plastic card. "Misty Waterflower, Cerulean City gym leader," she said a little too quickly as she shoved the card in his face.

The guard laughed. "Yeah, we know who you are. It makes no difference. If you wanna see the boss, you go through us."

Both guards unclipped a pokéball from their belts and clicked the buttons, releasing a weezing and an arbok onto the ground in front of them.

Misty pulled her own pokéball out of her coat pocket and released her politoed. The situation wasn't too bad, and she was fairly confident she could handle her opponents. She was just about to order an attack when Ash tapped her shoulder and pointed behind her.

Looking round, she saw about a dozen Rockets heading up the street towards them. Each of them were releasing their own pokémon and while most of them seemed to only have weaker creatures, like rattata and growlithe, it was still a problem.

"Ash, stay with me," she said, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him in closer. The three of them – Ash, Misty and Politoed – stood in a tight huddle, ready for the battle of their lives.

The crowd of Rockets and pokémon closed in, completely surrounding them and leaving them with no chance of escape. Misty knew there was no way that Politoed could take them all on, but it could maybe at least take out some of the weaker ones.

No, that would be pointless. With a sigh, she held out her pokéball and called Politoed back. "Sorry Ash," she said. "Looks like I wasn't much of a help after all."

"Don't worry about it. I knew it was hopeless from the start."

She looked into his eyes and smiled sadly. He really had changed. She didn't want to believe it before, but he wasn't the same boy she once knew. He was, of course, 100 % correct – it was hopeless. But the old Ash wouldn't have cared. He'd have given her some words of encouragement or hope despite the impossible situation. That was the Ash she needed right now.

She turned back to face her opponents. They were all grinning from ear to ear, clearly choosing to play with their pray before pouncing.

She was just about to close her eyes and accept her fate when she heard the click of a pokéball come from somewhere down the street.

"Steelix, use iron tail!" a familiar voice yelled.

A large, metallic snake-like creature slammed into the ground between her and her opponents and swept through the crowd. The weaker pokémon who weren't fast enough to dodge were knocked into the air and fell to the ground unconscious. Most of the Rockets managed to leap out of the way of the attack, but a couple were smacked to the side as well.

The people left standing turned round in shock to try and catch a glimpse of their attacker. As the dust cleared from the battlefield, they saw a tall, bearded man walking calmly and silently towards them.

"Hey Brock," Misty said. "Took you long enough."

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"What do you three want this time?" Giovanni said irritably as a group of Team Rocket members walked nervously into his office. He remembered their faces and all the trouble they had caused him (and indeed the entire organisation) in the past, but he couldn't for the life of him remember their names. It didn't surprise him to see that they were the only Rockets stupid enough to wear the old, logoed outfits.

"We've got something for you," the red-haired woman said. Jenny? Julie? Whatever, it'd come to him.

"I hope it isn't as much of a disappointment as the usual stuff you bring me."

"Oh trust me, we're sure you'll like this one." The blue-haired man.

"It might even fit in with your plan." The talking pokémon. That one he did remember – Meowth. The pre-evolved form of his beloved Persian.

"Well, hurry up then. Show me."

The meowth stepped back out the door and dragged something into the room. Giovanni stood up from his desk and leaned over to get a better look at it as the woman picked it up and carried it over to his desk.

The "thing", as it turned out, was nothing special - just a standard-order glass cage that Rockets used to contain pokémon they had stolen. What was inside the cage wasn't particularly impressive either – a small, yellow rat. The creature looked up at him weakly and let out a quiet, defeated sound.

"A pikachu?" Giovanni asked with exasperation as he sat back down. He should have known not to get his hopes up. "You do know there's plenty of those in the Viridian Forest, right?"

"Ah, but this one is different," the man said with a smile, stepping closer to the desk. "Trust us. We know."

Giovanni smirked. He had to be crazy to even think about believing those three idiots. But, on the other hand, he was getting desperate. He needed powerful pokémon, and he needed them badly. Besides, it wasn't like he himself had much to do, other than sit around and wait for his employees to do his work for him.

"Very well," he said, hardly believing what he was saying. "I'll trust you, for now. But if this pikachu turns out to be anything less than perfect, you'll all be fired immediately. You understand?"

"Yes sir," the three of them said simultaneously, falling into a line and saluting.

"Good. Of course, I can't use it like this. No, I'll need to evolve it… Go fetch me a thunder stone. Now."

The three of them saluted once more, then turned abruptly and left the office.

Giovanni turned his attention to the creature on his desk. It looked pathetic in its current state, but it had most likely burnt out most of its power trying to break out of its cage. A quick rest was sure to fix it up. He had to admit, even though it was trapped and defenceless, he sensed something… different about it. Something powerful.

He sat back in his chair and smiled to himself. Yes, he had a feeling this creature would be just right.


End file.
